'Dabengwa is a living Hero,' says Chinotimba

Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa is a living hero who will be buried at the National Heroes Acre when he dies despite the fact that he is no longer a member of the ruling party, a Zanu-PF Member of Parliament said on Thursday.

Joseph Chinotimba said this while debating a motion introduced in the house by MDC MP, Priscilla Misiharabwi-Mushonga, which demanded the recognition of war veterans while they were alive.

"Dabengwa is a war veteran, he is a hero. There is no question about it," he said.

The motion which was seconded by Jasmine Toffa sought to force government to assist living veterans of the armed struggle and bar Zanu-PF from monopolising the authority of determining who should be declared a national hero.

Chinotimba said true heroes of the armed struggle were known, adding that it was incorrect to say if someone has left Zanu-PF, then they were no longer eligible for national heroes' status.

"A case in point is the late Edgar Tekere who lies at the national shrine despite the fact that he left," he said.

Tekere left Zanu-PF in the early 1990s to form his party, Zimbabwe Unity Movement, which sought to challenge President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.

Chinotimba said although they were "true heroes" who have kept a low profiled life, they should "remain constant unlike those that vacillate from one political party to the other".

"True heroes are the ones that raise the Zimbabwean flag high. One does not necessarily have to have fought in the liberation struggle only. There is a hero who has fought against these sanctions, even if you were to stand up and denounce sanctions, you will be a hero," Chinotimba said.

Most of the people who lie at the Heroes Acre are prominent liberation war heroes, and that has been the criteria used by Zanu-PF to decide on who should be buried at the shrine.

There are, however, others who never participated in the struggle but lie buried at the shrine while some who did were never accorded the status, raising eyebrows in some circles, especially in the opposition.

Zanu-PF politburo deliberates on requests sent by provincial leaders for one to be declared a hero though President Mugabe has the final say.